Lexington Class
Introduced to lead Cruiser squadrons during the War of Pacification, the Lexington Class is a new and relatively untested design. The first Federation Command Cruiser, she sits mid-way in size and power between the venerable Constitution Class Refit Heavy Cruiser and the larger Excelsior Class Battlecruiser. Development The Organian Conflict had brought to light a number of deficiencies in Starfleet doctrines. Traditionally, Cruiser squadrons were the support fleets of Starfleet, reacting to crisis points and supporting lighter Destroyer Flotillas when they encountered heavy resistance. The Federation Class had been intended, amongst other roles, to operate as a command ship for these squadrons, to coordinate strikes and add additional firepower to an attack. Unfortunately, she proved wholly inadequate for this task, and during the Organian Conflict was kept safely out of harms way near Federation homeworlds. This left Cruiser Squadrons during this conflict at rather a disadvantage when facing comparable enemy forces, particular Klingon Strike Fleets, which were often supported by Battlecruisers and Dreadnoughts. Whilst the Excelsior Class Battlecruisers were being formed into their own Fast Attack Groups, and in 2286 the newly launched Ulysses Class ships were being deployed into dedicated Heavy Battlegroups to take on these Klingon Strike Fleets, Starfleet Cruiser Squadrons still faced heavy attrition losses and a lack of adequate command and control. Superior tactics, and the success of the Fast Attack Groups and Heavy Battlegroups (particularly when bolstered with the even more formidable Missouri Class Battleship in 2288) helped to abate Cruiser losses, but they couldn't be everywhere at once. A new ship concept was required; small enough to be built quickly and efficiently, but big enough to bring the required firepower and most important, command and control functions, to Cruiser Squadrons. With the Type E technology deployed on the Excelsior Class proving to be extreme successful and adaptable, this new Command Cruiser was designed around similar components. Her sleek design combined with a nacelle design scaled up from the S-I types deployed on the Oberth Class meant that the new Lexington Class could easily match the warp performance of the smaller Constitution Class Refit and proved only slightly slower at impulse. She had an unusual torpedo tube configuration, with a single Mark VI Photon Torpedo Tube either side of her main deflector, which made her secondary hull wide, but kept the connecting neck between the two hulls very short, reducing her height and improving warp field dynamics. She was also fitted with Electronic Warfare Equipment and a new weapon to help her quickly overwhelm the shields of an enemy vessel, the Quantum Carrier-Wave Beam or QCB. Whilst mounting the same Primary and Secondary Weapons array as the smaller Constitution Class Refit, the QCB gave her significantly more punch and she also benefited from a tougher hull and stronger shields. As she was due to be introduced, the War of Pacification began and more and more shipyard space was being devoted to heavier Excelsior Class and Ulysses Class ships. Construction on the few Lexington Class hulls started was quickly halted, and their hulks towed out to nearby storage yards to await completion once less urgent work had been completed. By 2290, further design studies using the Lexington Class hull as a starting point had produced a 'New Heavy Cruiser' design, which was hoped could replace the Constitution Class Refit in service. The resulting Richmond Class never entered service in sufficient numbers to replace the earlier class, but did supplant her in Heavy Battlegroups in an escort role, proving better at working alongside Capital Ships. Operational History Repeatedly delayed by the need for more Capital Ships, the Lexington Class was finally brought into service in 2290, when the lead ship of her class, the USS Lexington (NCC-3092) was launched. Before launch, her Photon Torpedo Tubes were upgraded to the new Mark VII standard, and some other last minute systems upgrades helped make her on of the most modern Cruiser designs then in service. Assigned to lead Cruiser Squadrons, the Lexington greatly enhanced the combat performance of those formations. They also proved quite successful in lone patrols, their Type S-IV nacelles giving them considerable range and duration on station. Her Electronic Warfare Equipment helped to counter the more heavily armed Interstellar Pacification Force Cruisers she encountered, reduce their ability to accurately target her or her squadron whilst simultaneously granting her squadron far greater accuracy in their own salvoes. Her QCB proved adept at bringing down the Cruisers' shields to allow her Photon Torpedoes to cripple their systems before they could recharge their slow-firing Type I Plasma Torpedoes. It proved a winning combination. With the outbreak of the General War, Lexington Class Command Cruisers were deployed to the Galactic Fringe with the Federation Prime Fleet. Whilst in this distant area of the galaxy, the tactics their crews had learnt during the War of Pacification were honed to perfection. They were also an instrumental part of the audacious Andromeda Strike. Apocrypha With the ending of hostilities in August 2292, the Federation Prime Fleet returned to the Alpha Quadrant. Upon standard post-combat inspections, many structural fatigue faults were discovered. The design of the Lexington had proven quick to construct and inexpensive, but was unsuitable for the long distances they had covered in the General War. This left Starfleet with a problem, one that was handily solved in the following year. The signing of the Khitomer Accords in 2293 brought about a vast reduction in the size and diversity of Starfleet. More Excelsior Class Battlecruisers were being commissioned, and along with several other classes, the Lexington was decommissioned as part of the accords. This seemed to outsiders that Starfleet was sacrificing one of their most promising new Cruiser designs when in fact, it gave them a face-saving way to retire a flawed wartime design with no future in the peacetime fleet. Specifications * Class: 'Command Cruiser * 'Hull Type Designation: '''FCC * '''Length: 397m * Crew: 610 * Warp Nacelles: '''2 * '''Maximum Sublight Speed: 3525 k/s (35.25 Mk/s) * Cruise Warp Factor Speed: wf 7.5 * Safe Maximum Warp Factor Speed: wf 9.0 * Hull Rating: '300 HSF * 'Shield Rating: 697 FSP * Sensor Rating: 800 SRU * Armament and Equipment: ** Primary *** 4 × Type B Phaser Emitter ** Secondary *** 2 × Mark VII Photon Torpedo Tube ** Heavy *** None ** Advanced *** Quantum Carrier-Wave Beam Projector (QCB) ** Equipment *** Tractor Beam Emitter *** Mark VI Probes *** Electronic Warfare Equipment *** 3 × Type 2 Shuttlecraft Ships in Service (2292) USS Lexington (NCC-3092) USS Yorktown (NCC-1717-A) USS Saratoga (NCC-1724-A) USS Midway (NCC-2570) USS Coral Sea (NCC-4302) USS Guadacanal (NCC-2572) USS Leyte Gulf (NCC-4840) USS Wake Island (NCC-1934) USS Pearl Harbour (NCC-2841) USS Aleutian (NCC-1526) USS Solomon (NCC-2862) USS New Guinea (NCC-4746) USS Philippines (NCC-1850) USS Marshall (NCC-2850) USS Dvorak (NCC-2851) USS Howland (NCC-2852) USS Bunker Hill (NCC-2853) USS Powhattan (NCC-2854) USS Bismarck (NCC-2855) USS New Zealand (NCC-2856) USS Australia (NCC-2857) USS Sydney (NCC-2858) USS Perth (NCC-2859) USS Melbourne (NCC-2860) USS Darwin (NCC-2861) Category:Federation Vessels Category:Cruisers Category:Command Cruisers